Paying for College Education

[Liesje]

I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks about this topic. Last night I was watching the news and they did a short segment on the best ways to save for your child's college education. The man they focused on said he began saving before they even had their first baby. I was really, really shocked by this, considering I just got married and will probably have kids say seven years from now. I have not even been able to start a retirement fund, let alone saving for college. Is this something I'm supposed to be doing? The new segment made it sound normal, like it's expected. They interviewed a financial planner that said "All you have to do is save just $150 a month now [as in, newlyweds planning families for the near future] and add more later." I feel pretty bad b/c there's no WAY on God's green earth I can save $150/mo for the future education of a hypothetical child. I suppose that makes me a bad parent to begin with. Is this really normal?!? The whole segment left me dumbfounded, considering my husband and I are already $100,000 in student debt (a lot of this is from private banks as well as federal loans) and he is back in school full time so that will only grow, and then if I go to grad school....don't want to think about it!

I know it's fairly normal for parents in the US to pay for college. I did not think this was normal until I started school and realized I was in the minority (our household attitude is, you want it, you work for it, and my parents could never afford to help me w/ school even if they wanted to). But what about Canada, Europe, etc? Is it common for parents to start saving before or as soon as a child is born? Do you have to take out loans from the government and private banks?

 

[redhotswami]

I too was surprised how many parents pay for their students' college! That wasn't even an option for me.

Luckily though, I had scholarships and I worked. But I'm also often surprised about how much people pay for college too. Especially after learning about scholarships and grants and other options to reduce tuition. There's really SO MUCH free money out there, but a lot of my students didn't even apply for any of it, their parent(s) just reached into their pocket.

I guess what I'm saying is don't feel like you have to resort to loans. I mean, I think it is wonderful you are thinking about this so soon, but, there's definitely ways to get other people to pay for college.

 

[Butterscotch]

It's a sad thing. Many families have such a hard time paying the bills they need to live with they can't even think of saving for that far ahead, and even if they do they end up digging into it the next time the electric is in danger of being turned off. It would be great if everyone could get a scholarship but of course they don't. I am afraid some student loans these days are starting to take advantage of people and put them in the hole before they're ever making a living. My dream is that the government would pay for them but that's not happening in America any time soon, I know. In the past, a person could make a good living without a degree but that isn't true anymore. Despite this sad fact it's getting harder and harder to pay for education, leaving some good people sentenced to a life of shitty jobs and low pay.

 

[phanan]

I don't even want to know what it's going to cost by the time my kids are college age.

 

[Liesje]

I don't even want to know what it's going to cost by the time my kids are college age.

Yeah, no kidding! My husband and I were 100K each, for our undergrad degrees. I was a pretty smart cookie in high school, so I did get scholarships and need-based aid from the school, but 25k - the max. scholarships and aid = still thousands leftover.

I was thinking we'd start saving for retirement, maybe a house or even a car...but saving for my non-existent kids' ed. when I'm not even done w/ my own sounded pretty absurd at the time. The news people should have interviewed some couples OUR age.

 

[Bonochick]

I'm amazed by how many parents foot the bill for the kids' college education. I also think that saving up from when the kid is very young...or before the kid is even born...has good intentions, but it's also deciding for the child that they are going to go to college. College isn't for everyone.

 

[LJT]

The government in the UK pays most of the tuition for most of the less well off families. Tuition fees at the moment are capped at £3000 a year a year, previously it was £1200 a year back. You get assessed based on your parental income how much of a grant you get and how much of your fees you pay, so it can range from you paying the whole lot to a fraction of the cost.

The government loan is also assessed on parental income, from 2005-06 I got around £4,500 from the government as a loan, which you pay back after your course once you start earning above £12,000 a year I think at a pretty low interest rate which I need to check up on.

That said I dropped out of uni after first year now trying to get into medicine at another uni, I reckon by the time I finish I will owe in total about £20,000 in loans from the government...I find that scary, the amount you owe is tear inducing

 

[Laura M]

The government in the UK pays most of the tuition for most of the less well off families. Tuition fees at the moment are capped at £3000 a year a year, previously it was £1200 a year back. You get assessed based on your parental income how much of a grant you get and how much of your fees you pay, so it can range from you paying the whole lot to a fraction of the cost.

The government loan is also assessed on parental income, from 2005-06 I got around £4,500 from the government as a loan, which you pay back after your course once you start earning above £12,000 a year I think at a pretty low interest rate which I need to check up on.

That said I dropped out of uni after first year now trying to get into medicine at another uni, I reckon by the time I finish I will owe in total about £20,000 in loans from the government...I find that scary the amount you owe is tear inducing

Were you at UU before?

I'm paying the full £1200 a year for my university course because I started before the £3000 fees were introduced. The difference is I pay now but nowstudents get a loan every year and after their degrees they pay it all back once they are earning a certain amount. In my first/second year my parents paid part of it or I paid myself with savings from working, third year I still paid half fees despite living abroad (something they are trying to change at the university ). This year i'm relying fully on my loan.

It was great I could manage to pay myself or with the help of my parents but after being away for a while and not living at home anymore it's impossible, if I had fees of £3000 I'd have a crippling amount of debt.

 

[LJT]

UU, as in Ulster Uni? No I was over in Bristol Uni, twas fun........a bunch of students there are suing the uni though, actual contact hours with tutors and lecturers has been cut dramatically in Bristol and a lot of unis especially in the arts ie. English, History etc, some are only getting 4 hours a week, and they are suing on not getting value for money.

 

[mandy1973]

In australia, if you are an australian citizen you're eligible for HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) Where you pay nothing up front for university, but start paying once you are earning a certain amount per annum - 32K I think.

Depending on what degree you do, it can cost $10000 - $100000 for university.
Of course, you can pay as you go too, and you get a % off the cost if you can do that, but most people I know just paid off Uni once they were working.

I don't think parents should have to foot the whole bill for uni education, particularly not if it puts their own finances in jeopardy!! I certainly never expected my parents to pay - they helped out with text books and that kind of stuff, but i never expected them to pay my fees!!

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Unless you get a scholarship, a state university is the way to go. Tuition tends to be a lot cheaper (relatively speaking) than most private schools which is important because these days a bachelor's degree is almost worthless. It's now the equivalent of a high school diploma 25 years ago. Everyone has one and an advanced degree really is needed to rise above the pack. The advanced degrees don't come cheap, which is why doing undegrad on the cheap becomes more important.

 

[BEAL]

I don't even want to think about it.

I went to a Community College, got a couple of Assoc Degrees in Computer Programming, and then got a job in IT as a DBA. I would consider myself to be doing very well $$$ considering I don't have anything above a 2 year.

My fiancee went to a private college, got her Bachelors in something General, then decided to become a nurse, and went to that schooling. She's now going back to school for culinary arts. That being said:

I think if we have a child, and he/she doesn't qualify for scholarship, then taking the CC route is the best idea. Get your core classes out of the way the first year or two, then transfer up to a state university. At least take the first year or two to figure out what you want to do, then move on to a school that will provide the best education for that study.

 

[Liesje]

Get your core classes out of the way the first year or two, then transfer up to a state university. At least take the first year or two to figure out what you want to do, then move on to a school that will provide the best education for that study.

A lot of kids I went to college with tried this. I went to a liberal arts college, so our core was all over the place. They wanted to take easier classes at the CC (mainly Spanish for the language requirement, and biology), considering you don't really care about the core classes. The college wised-up and now doesn't accept all of these credits. Only certain ones will count and even then, you can't use the grades, only the credit (so you can't get all As at the CC to boost your GPA).

My little sister wants to be a physical therapist or occupational therapist, something that definitely does not require a liberal arts degree, so she is going to a state school for a fraction of what my degree cost. My little brother did not go to college and is a carpenter. He's good at his job and is the 4th generation carpenter in our family, but it seems there is still stigma attached to not going to college, even though his skills aren't taught at any college.

I personally didn't mind the liberal arts thing so much, and I really really like that our prof-student ratio was never more than 30 (except required accounting, math, and biology courses). Also, most of my courses were seminar-style rather than lecture-style and that was cool. We were generally responsible for taking all our notes and reading the textbooks and such, and then class was devoted to discussion/debate and supplementary materials. Most profs required attendance and active participation. It was annoying basically being required to attend every class, but it was nice knowing that you added something to the class, rather than just being taught at the entire time. In interviewing for jobs in this area, I did notice preference was given depending on which school your degree is from, but that won't be true when I start looking elsewhere.

 

[redhotswami]

i, personally, prefer CCs to 4 year schools, because they offer a wider array of programs, different times for classes, have more of a diverse student population, and are more student centered than 4 year schools. plus they don't cost as much!!!

 

[anitram]

Some state schools in the US are excellent - I have no idea why more people don't go to them.

My parents paid for my undergrad tuition and my brother's (and they wanted us to go to the #1 ranked school in the country, which was fine, we would have chosen it as well). They felt it was their responsibility and they would rather forego vacations or whatever else but they wanted to pay for us. They came to this country as poor immigrants (actually homeless refugees to be technically accurate) and saw education as our only way out. That said my Mom did start earning very good $ eventually, and they were in a position to pay for us at that point.

We both then decided on grad school (MEd) or professional school (law) at which point they could no longer completely foot the bill. They are paying living expenses (rent, etc) and we're paying tuition through loans, bursaries, grants, our savings, etc. Because I worked for a couple of years between undergrad and law school, I did manage to invest some $ and because summer student law jobs are very lucrative, I don't anticipate owing more than $17-19K on graduation, which is not an issue for me given the expected salary range.

The problem is amassing huge amounts of debt for a BA which is worthless. Undergraduate degrees are worthless these days unless they are in nursing, teaching or engineering. Everything else, you need to do something else if you want a high paying job. Preferrably a professional program (meds, law, dentistry, pharmacy), etc.

If I had kids, my #1 priority would be to educate them to the highest possible level they would be interested in. No question about it. I see it as my duty, as my parents helped me, to help them. Whatever $ I could afford, would go to their education, first and foremost. If they don't want to go to university for multiple degrees, that's fine as well - it's not for everyone. But I admit I would advocate for it.

 

[Liesje]

Undergraduate degrees are worthless these days unless they are in nursing, teaching or engineering. Everything else, you need to do something else if you want a high paying job. Preferrably a professional program (meds, law, dentistry, pharmacy), etc.

Depends on what you want to do though, or how much you really care about what your job pays. I've really no interest in going into any type of medicine or most of those other things. Honestly, my happiest moments are volunteering at the local Humane Society, for which we don't get paid (we actually have to pay for our gear and supplies) and not even a GED is required. If I didn't have to worry about living expenses and loan payments, I'd quit my job and volunteer full time. In fact I most likely will since Phil will be a shoe-in after his second degree (special education teachers, let alone male ones, are so rare he already has people begging for him to finish the degree and work for them).

If I had kids, my #1 priority would be to educate them to the highest possible level they would be interested in. No question about it. I see it as my duty, as my parents helped me, to help them. Whatever $ I could afford, would go to their education, first and foremost. If they don't want to go to university for multiple degrees, that's fine as well - it's not for everyone. But I admit I would advocate for it.

But say you do value education but are never in a position to pay for someone else's? Do you have to be able to prove value with money? I don't think so; I think you can teach it early on and don't have to attach a monetary amount. I never once considered NOT going to college even though I knew my parents were missing mortgage payments just to pay for my high school tuition. We were socialized early on to value education and put forth effort regardless of how much it would cost or who would have to pay.

I guess that's more what this news segment was getting at. The way it came through was they made you feel bad if you weren't already putting away hundreds each month for your kids. They even said things like "if this is important to you there's no reason why you can't do [X-fund]." I was just surprised at how the whole thing came across. I only know one person who got money for college from a pre-existing fund. I think my parents did what you were saying, but only until we were adults. As kids we went to the best school within hours of here, costing more than many colleges. Once we were done w/ high school, it was out of the house and we were responsible for getting our aid and loans and they would support whatever choice we made. Now they can start repaying the high school tuition costs and catching up on the mortgage.

 

[Vincent Vega]

At the moment I'm paying less than €250, per semester, which is about $328, the dearest part being the semester ticket for the public transportation in and around Berlin.
My parents are paying the rent for my flat, which is €270, from the child benefits.

For the rest I get €347 each month ($256) education assistance from the state.
Like in the UK I have to pay it back after I've finished my studying.
Rules are here that you start paying five years after you finished studying. But you only have to pay back half the money you got. If you finish earlier or are one of the 30 per cent best of your year you have to pay back less.

In some states they are now starting to introduce tuition fees at €500 each semester ($657), but the students are protesting against it.
One reason is, that the universities are generally demanding the €500, but the students want that the universities make a plan on how money they need for certain investments beforehand, so that the universities together with the studentes can decide whether the claim is justified.

Also the universities should be held accountable if they demanded money for investments they didn't make.

Most of the Master studies cost much more money, so I will first do my Bachelor and then decide what to do next.

 

[Liesje]

Thanks Vincent and others not from the US. It's informative to read how it's done elsewhere. Personally, I can't figure out why education is so expensive here when many Europeans pay so much less and get just as good an education (sometimes better). I hope there are good reasons, maybe someone knows them...

 

[Angela Harlem]

What is a liberal arts degree, Lies? You seem to have studied a little bit of a few different things. I know you did business units and so forth, but here you would do that under a Bachelor of Business which is harder and more competitive than a BA, but more restrictive. Essentially a BA is not a specific degree geared toward any one field, so they can be useful for humanities, social sciences, and all those fields of employment - even though there are degrees which aim toward those areas specifically, as well.

I am using FEEHelp (which replaces the old HECS system) as I go, which basically everyone in Australia is entitled to, as it is simply a deferred payment. I don't understand why it is not offered in the US.

We personally have money set aside now for our kids and add to it each month which is then invested so it can grow as they do. Whether they use it or not will be up to them, but when they come to finishing high school, we go the route of the US and education is not easily accessible then we will have a backup plan for them. Otherwise they can use the money to take off and explore the world, or get started on a mortgage or something. It's my view that as a parent you do everything in your power to help your children. It's what I view my role as. That includes financially. I see education as incredibly important, and after they are fed and clothed and have a safe and happy home, then all the other things like education and so on are the next priority list. People who don't do as we are doing are not doing less, it's just their own way.

 

[anitram]

But say you do value education but are never in a position to pay for someone else's? Do you have to be able to prove value with money? I don't think so; I think you can teach it early on and don't have to attach a monetary amount. I never once considered NOT going to college even though I knew my parents were missing mortgage payments just to pay for my high school tuition. We were socialized early on to value education and put forth effort regardless of how much it would cost or who would have to pay.

I guess that's more what this news segment was getting at. The way it came through was they made you feel bad if you weren't already putting away hundreds each month for your kids. They even said things like "if this is important to you there's no reason why you can't do [X-fund]." I was just surprised at how the whole thing came across. I only know one person who got money for college from a pre-existing fund. I think my parents did what you were saying, but only until we were adults. As kids we went to the best school within hours of here, costing more than many colleges. Once we were done w/ high school, it was out of the house and we were responsible for getting our aid and loans and they would support whatever choice we made. Now they can start repaying the high school tuition costs and catching up on the mortgage.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. My parents obviously value my law degree and are really happy I'm doing it, but if they can't afford to pay for that and my brother's grad school at the same time, you can't squeeze blood from a stone. At that point, you take a loan and make the best of it.

I knew plenty of parents of my friends who could afford it and chose not to, saying their kids should be responsible. I guess that's one view, I just can't reconcile my upbringing with it only because my parents sacrificed a lot for me and I'd do it for my kids too, as much as I could.

Also, you have to take care of yourself as well. And that means having a nice place for your kids to grow up and having some kind of retirement fallback plan for you and so on. Education is nice, but come on, the reality of life is that we all have a hundred things we need to take care of. Guilting people about not planning 20 years in advance is really a poor approach.

 

[anitram]

Thanks Vincent and others not from the US. It's informative to read how it's done elsewhere. Personally, I can't figure out why education is so expensive here when many Europeans pay so much less and get just as good an education (sometimes better). I hope there are good reasons, maybe someone knows them...

Why is it cheaper in Canada? Because we don't have private universities. All of them are government funded and so they are subsidized to an extent.

When it comes to our professional programs, they are deregulated (I think in all provinces, but definitely in Ontario) which means they don't have to comply with tuition caps set by the provinces and that's why we're seeing tuition prices get ridiculous for things like law and medicine, similarly as you see in the US.

 

[Liesje]

What is a liberal arts degree, Lies? You seem to have studied a little bit of a few different things.

"Liberal arts" means the college has a core curriculum every student is required to fulfill regardless of their major of study. For example, my BA is Business Communications, but I was required to take a course in political science, sociology, chemistry, economics, communications, computer applications, biology, religion, English, literature, philosophy, history, etc. Our school also has a CCE requirement which stands for cross-cultural engagement. You're required to spend a month or semester off-campus in another country (the Western European ones do not count).
To my understanding, most 4 year undergrad degrees have become liberal arts to a certain extent. My particular college prides itself in being as "liberal" as possible so we have a very wide range of requirements and the core courses are often as difficult or more so than those for your major. It's common for students to get worse grades in core because they are hard and/or subjects we aren't that interested in studying. They're different than typical intro/survey courses. "Core" typically takes two years and then you focus on your degree and minors. Some degrees take more than 4 years because of the additional core requirements.

It probably seems like I studied a lot of things b/c I changed my major five times I started as General Science (meaning something w/ biology but you haven't picked yet), then I was Computer Science, but HATED programming so changed to Digital Communications, but still hated the emphesis on techy stuff, so then switched to Business, but enjoyed my Communications core requirements so finally picked Business Communications. So my undergrad degree is a B.A. in Business Communications, with a minor in Third World Development (now called International Development Studies). Luckily, since many of those programs I tried share a required course or two, I could apply courses I'd already taken towards my final major. Other people that switch often have to continue for 1-2 extra years. Still other people like my roommate take an insane amount of courses so they can get two degrees or multiple minors within four years (she got two degrees and a minor).

Also, to meet the required amount of courses, I did electives that were outside of core and my major. Most students don't have room for this, but b/c of the high school program I was in, I'd already tested out of language and math core, so I did not have to take language or math classes in college (except those required for my degree). For example I took criminal investigations and some additional computer courses that worked with specific software applications I like to use.

A non-liberal arts degree would be like what my little sister is going to do. She's going to a state school for occupational therapy and won't have to take as wide a range of survey courses.

I hope that explains it.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I would never expect my parents to front the bill for my college education, especially since I'm in the U.S. and college bills are ridiculous. And, I'm going to a state school, and definitely can't imagine having to pay for a private school education. I'll be getting financial aid for sure, but anything that's left over will be my responsibility. My dad does have a very small college fund set aside for each of us, but it will probably pay for 3 or so semesters of books, and that's it. I will be working while going to school as well.

Plus, I plan on going to medical school after my bachelor's degree, so I'll be in some serious debt, but to me, it's worth it to be able to work in a job that I love.

The fact that this news story made parents feel like if you can't put away X amount of money per month, then you're a horrible parent, is just so wrong to me. Some people can afford to help their kids through college, some can't. Some choose not to help because they think their kids should be responsible for themselves. None of that makes them bad parents.

 

[redhotswami]

Thanks Vincent and others not from the US. It's informative to read how it's done elsewhere. Personally, I can't figure out why education is so expensive here when many Europeans pay so much less and get just as good an education (sometimes better). I hope there are good reasons, maybe someone knows them...

I'm wondering if maybe it is because of the way our higher education institutions are run? I mean, here in the U.S. the state govts play more of a role in higher ed than the fed govt. (I think...but am not for certain, that perhaps in other countries the higher ed system has more fed. involvement.) With the exception of a few grants, I think federal funding here in the u.s. is quite minimal. I find it interesting that the fed. govt will match state spending on medicaid, but will not match state spending on higher ed. Perhaps if they did, the cost for us students to could drop significantly.

 

[BoMac]

Why is it cheaper in Canada? Because we don't have private universities. All of them are government funded and so they are subsidized to an extent.

When it comes to our professional programs, they are deregulated (I think in all provinces, but definitely in Ontario) which means they don't have to comply with tuition caps set by the provinces and that's why we're seeing tuition prices get ridiculous for things like law and medicine, similarly as you see in the US.

Right but here in Quebec we have a tuition freeze that has kept fees way below the national average for the past decade or so(if not more).

So presently it would cost an undergraduate student approximately $1,688 per year in tuition which is three times less than in some other provinces. Out of province students pay approximately $4,000 to $ 5,000 per year while foreign students more than 10K.

A debate has been raging for years about lifting the freeze. Many universities are starved for funds as the government slashed the education budget years ago to help balance the books. A raise in tuition would mean more money to attract professors and researchers, buy books, upgrade facilities etc..

But of course the student unions are up in arms and have held many protests. Our provincial government tabled it's budget today, and while I haven't had a chance to study it, a partial lifting of the freeze was supposed to be a part of it. Tuition would rise approximately $100 per year for the next 5 years. This is, of course, a huge risk for the government because they risk alienating the student population during an election campaign that will begin tomorrow.

 

[yolland]

We are putting aside money for our kids' college education. It isn't much at the moment, and there's no way it's going to be enough to cover their full expenses or even close to it, but the way costs have been rising even at public universities...the thought of them being saddled with six-digit debts from undergrad alone just makes my heart wrench. I never owed anywhere near that much and we've found it tough enough just to support three kids, buy a house and then a car, and all that stuff with what I've had to pay off already. I expect to have everything fully paid off by next year. It is true, though, that in the big picture it's just one of many things you need to plan for with a family, like anitram said. My parents were somewhere in between anitram's and Lies', I guess--like anitram's they had that driven immigrants' urgency about education being vitally necessary, but on the other hand my father never made enough for it to be realistic for them to totally pay our way through college. My oldest brother was the only one who went to college at a time when family circumstances allowed parental support for it--my next oldest brother got a great athletic scholarship, then me and my younger sibs all had to take out sizeable loans and work full-time or do ROTC in order to afford it. But that wasn't the way my parents would've preferred things. And actually, now that I think about it I remember my mother saying once, Thank God your brother got that sports scholarship, because otherwise they probably would've put money they couldn't really afford into his tuition (maybe kind of like Lies' parents did with high school) and then we would've been worse off than we already were when my father died. So you can't be doing that either--spending money you don't really have to the point where there's no cushion if some family crisis happens. It is true, that one way or another a young adult can probably work it out if they're determined to do it...it's just, like I said, I can't bear the thought of them starting into adulthood burdened with the kind of debts that could cripple any dreams to start saving towards the basics and having children at a reasonably young age. That's really my main concern.

I'm wondering if maybe it is because of the way our higher education institutions are run? I mean, here in the U.S. the state govts play more of a role in higher ed than the fed govt. (I think...but am not for certain, that perhaps in other countries the higher ed system has more fed. involvement.) With the exception of a few grants, I think federal funding here in the u.s. is quite minimal. I find it interesting that the fed. govt will match state spending on medicaid, but will not match state spending on higher ed. Perhaps if they did, the cost for us students to could drop significantly.

Medicaid's probably not really analogous to public education as it's a joint state/federal program by design, whereas the education model is local/state by design, with some supplementary federal funding. At the college level, federal funding mostly takes the form of financial aid and grants. The last several years have been painful ones for most public colleges as states have slashed education budgets due to recession; public college tuitions have, proportionally speaking, actually increased quite a bit more than private ones during that time. But already as it was, state budgets hadn't kept pace with inflation and rising costs even before that. From 1970 to 2000 average government appropriations per student increased only from $5227 (in 2000 dollars)to $5409. So yes, more and more of the cost is being borne by the student (and to a somewhat lesser extent, private grants and corporate investment--both of which public universities, like private ones, are increasingly dependent on). Revenue from all three of those sources proportionally increased far more than that from government appropriations during that time, doubling in the case of tuition and increasing about 150% in the case of private sources.

 

[anitram]

Right but here in Quebec we have a tuition freeze that has kept fees way below the national average for the past decade or so(if not more).

So presently it would cost an undergraduate student approximately $1,688 per year in tuition which is three times less than in some other provinces. Out of province students pay approximately $4,000 to $ 5,000 per year while foreign students more than 10K.

Which has always been a source of contention in English Canada.

If I come to Quebec to law school, I have to pay 3x as much tuition as you. If you come to Ontario, you will pay the same as me, who is a resident. So my taxes subsidize your education and the Quebec government will not subsidize mine. It is an incredibly insulting system, and you can bet that if English Canada treated Quebeckers this way, the provincial government of Quebec would cry foul in about 2.3 seconds and litigate the matter all the way to the SCC.

 

[Liesje]

If I come to Quebec to law school, I have to pay 3x as much tuition as you.

It's sort of like this in the US. For example, if I'd gone to OU after all, my tuition would be $14,000 while OK residents would pay $5,700. For UofM, I would pay $4,700 b/c I'm a resident, but non-Michigan residents would pay $14,500.

I'm not really sure why this is. I'm guessing b/c the schools get their $$$ from state taxes? It still seems really unfair.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I also think that saving up from when the kid is very young...or before the kid is even born...has good intentions, but it's also deciding for the child that they are going to go to college. College isn't for everyone.

I agree with you there somewhat.

College really isn't for everyone, maybe not me as well. But you know what? - a Bachelor's degree is becoming the new high school diploma. It seems like everyone has a BA in something, and when applying for any kind of job they shoot right up the application ladder ahead of you if you've never completed a degree.

Although I think it's important to find a career one enjoys, I also feel the increasing sense that it's very hard to find good work without a degree. A previous employer once explained to me that it almost doesn't matter what the degree is - it just symbolizes that an individual can put concerted effort into a goal for 4 years and that shows a lot about a job applicant.

So, I think I'm going to "suffer" through university, even if I end up collating papers for the next 10 years I'll be better off.

 

[anitram]

It's sort of like this in the US. For example, if I'd gone to OU after all, my tuition would be $14,000 while OK residents would pay $5,700. For UofM, I would pay $4,700 b/c I'm a resident, but non-Michigan residents would pay $14,500.

I'm not really sure why this is. I'm guessing b/c the schools get their $$$ from state taxes? It still seems really unfair.

Yes, but at least in the US it's like that in every state. In Canada it's not. Quebeckers pay low tuition in Quebec and the same tuition as we pay if they leave the province (to say come to Ontario). But the rest of us pay resident tuition in our province, and if we go to Quebec, we pay 3x what they do.

So they benefit from our provincial taxes coming here and we don't benefit from theirs. It's an outrage and if this system was set up the opposite way, Quebec would whine all the way to the SCC.